MySports Today

Wow – haven’t done this in a while, so we’ll start it up again – The Good Chris Carpenter & The Bad Pittsburgh Pirates…

Chris Carpenter is Good, real good.  The Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter threw his 1st complete game shutout in 3 years in Monday’s 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Labor Day.  He needed just 99 pitches and gave up only 1 hit – a harmless double to Jody Gerut in the 5th inning.  He struck out 10 Brewers and won his 11th straight decision.  During the 2009 MLB schedule, Carpenter is 16-3 and he leads all of baseball with a sparkling 2.16 ERA.  He has a WHIP under 1.00 at 0.97 and he has allowed more than 3 ER in a game only 2 times all season long (4 runs against the Pirates on August 4th and 6 runs against the Giants on June 30th).  He has allowed 2 ER or less in 17 of his 24 starts.  He and teammate Adam Wainwright (18-7; 2.59 ERA; 1.21 WHIP) will be duking it out for the 2009 National League Cy Young Award.  It’s not surprising that Manager Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals have run away with the NL Central with 2 dominating pitchers like Carpenter and Wainwright at the top of the rotation.  The Cardinals are 27 games over .500 @ 84-57 and they now have the best record in the National League.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are Bad, real bad.  The Pirates have lost 12 of 13 games and are now 54-84 overall, 28.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for last place in the NL Central.  The Pirates have only 7 more wins than the lowly Washington Nationals and are the 3rd worst team in all of MLB baseball (the Royals are 1 game worse with a 53-85 record).  The Pirates have guaranteed the franchise another losing season – 17 consecutive losing season for that matter.  That streak sets the longest season losing streak for any professional sports team in the four major professional sports (baseball (MLB); football (NFL); basketball (NBA); hockey (NHL)) ever.  Bad, bad, bad.  Only the Philadelphia Phillies of MLB have have had 16 consecutive losing seasons (from 1933-1948).  Bad, bad, bad…

John Smoltz and Brad Penny are shining in their new homes outside of the bright lights of Fenway Park in Boston.

In 3 starts with the Cardinals, Smoltz is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP.  He suffered his 1st loss on Thursday when he gave up 4 ER on 6 hits over 6 innings.  In his previous 2 starts (both Cardinals wins), Smoltz gave up just 1 ER on 7 hits over 11 innings pitched.  He also struck out a combined 15 batters in those 2 games against the lowly Padres and Nationals.  The Cardinals have all but locked up the NL Central division, and Smoltz will be a welcome arm for the Cardinals in the post-season.  It will be interesting to see if Manager Tony LaRussa goes with Smoltz as a #3 (ahead of 14-gaem winner Joel Pineiro) or as a #4 in October.

In his 1st start with the Giants, Brad Penny earned the win with 8 scoreless innings against the Phillies, giving up just 5 hits and 1 walk.  Penny pounded the strike zone throughout the game, needing just 103 pitches to go the 8 innings.  As a point of reference, Penny pitched into the 7th inning only 2 times in 24 starts for the Red Sox in 2009 (7-8 record, 5.61 ERA & 1.53 WHIP).  The Giants are looking for Penny to serve as the team’s #4 behind Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.  With more starts like that, the Giants could have one of the deepest starting pitching staffs for the post-season if they can overcome the Rockies for the NL Wild Card lead.

We’ll see if it holds up for the remainder of the season, but these guys are veteran major league pitchers and with prior success for each in the National League, it’s not surprising that both are thriving back in the light-hitting NL.

The St. Louis Cardinals made another solid move in their push for the 2009 MLB post-season by signing John Smoltz to the league minimum on Wednesday.  Smoltz struggled in 8 starts for the Boston Red Sox during the 2009 MLB schedule.  Smoltz posted a 2-5 record in 40 innings pitched.  He gave up a whopping 37 ER’s and 8 home runs, sporting a hefty 8.32 ERA and 1.70 WHIP.  Smoltz rejected the Red Sox offer to stay in the ‘pen for the rest of the season, and when the Red Sox could not orchestrate a trade with another team, Smoltz became a free agent after this Monday’s deadline.

The Cardinals will pay Smoltz the pro rate portion of the league minimum for the rest of the season.  The Red Sox are still on the hook for the $5 million deal they signed him to this off-season, less the portion paid by the Cards.

Smoltz will likely serve as a set-up man for Cards closer Ryan Franklin or as a late inning reliever.  This is a GREAT MOVE for the Cards.  Smoltz was once a closer for the Braves – - so he has the experience there.  Smoltz also seemed to fare better during the 1st few innings of his starts this season – in his last 5 starts for the Red Sox, he did not give up any runs in the 1st 2 innings of any start.  That could mean that Smoltz still has what it takes for an inning or 2, but lose his good stuff or become more predictable the longer he stays in the game.  The Cards are in the driver’s seat with a 6-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central, and the addition of Smoltz just makes them that much deeper in the bullpen.  With the earlier additions of Mark DeRosa and Matt Holiday, the Cardinals have clearly made some of the best mid-season moves in all of baseball.  Kudos to General Manager John Mozeliak and his staff and Manager Tony LaRussa for putting the pieces together to form one of the best teams in the National League in 2009.

The St. Louis Cardinals made a big move to bolster their offense by acquiring Matt Holliday in a trade with the Oakland A’s on Friday.  Holliday will likely bat clean-up behind the best hitter in baseball – Albert Pujols – to give Pujols some protection down the stretch run of the 2009 MLB schedule.

The Cards lead the NL Central by 1.5 games over each of the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros.  The addition of Holliday should put the Cards in great position to win the NL Central division in 2009.

The Cards sent power-hitting 3rd baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Peterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen back to the A’s in the trade.

The American League defeated the National League 4-3 in the 2009 MLB All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  The AL is now 12-0-1 since its last defeat back in Philadelphia back in 1996.  The last time the NL didn’t lose was at Miller Park in Milwaukee in 2002 when the two leagues tied 7-7 after 11 innings.

The AL jumped on NL starter Tim Lincecum right off the bat with a single by Ichiro Suzuki and a HBP by Derek Jeter.  After a Joe Mauer groundout that forced out Ichiro at 3rd base, Derek Jeter scored the game’s 1st run on a fielder’s choice error by home town hero Albert Pujols at 1st base.  Jason Bay then followed with a single to center field that loaded the bases, and the AL scored another run on a Josh Hamilton fielder’s choice groundout.  Hamilton avoided getting doubled up at 1st to allow Mauer to score.

The NL scored all 3 of their runs in the 2nd inning and took a 3-2 lead.  After 2 quick hits, the NL put together 4 straight hits off AL starter Roy Halladay to take the lead.  David Wright and Shane Victorino singled, and home town Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina delivered an RBI single to center field that allowed Wright and Victorino to score after a Hamilton throwing error.  Prince Fielder then pinch-hit for Lincecum and put the NL ahead with an RBI double to left field that scored Molina.  But the NL offense disappeared the rest of the way, as 22 of their final 24 batters failed to reach base.

The AL tied the game in the 5th inning off of Chad Billingsley on a Joe Mauer double that scored Derek Jeter.  With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Tampa Bay Rays Carl Crawford made a specatacular catch by pulling back Brad Hawpe’s shot to deep left field that would have been a home run.  The next inning, Detroit Tigers Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the winning run on an Andruw Jones’ sacrifice fly.

The AL pitching said it all on Tuesday night.  From the 3rd through the 7th innings, Mark Buehrle, Zach greinke, Edwin Jackson, Felix Hernandez and Jonathan Papelbon each worked perfect innings.  After getting the 1st 2 outs of the 8th inning, Joe Nathan allowed a walk and a hit to put the go ahead runs on base.  But he was able to strike out Phillies slugger Ryan Howard to end the threat.  And Mariano Rivera worked a perfect 9th inning to preserve the win for the AL and home field advantage for the AL in the 2009 World Series.  No one had more than 1 of anything except for Jeter – he scored 2 runs despite never getting a hit.

Carl Crawford was named the 2009 All-Star Game’s MVP for his spectacular catch that saved the game at the time for the AL.  Crawford became the 1st non-pitcher to win the MVP Award without having an RBI or scoring a run.

Couple of side notes – President Barack Obama honored former Cards great Lou Brock before the game and threw out the 1st pitch – in a Chicago White Sox jacket – to current Cards great Albert Pujols.  Obama became the 5th sitting U.S. President to throw out the 1st pitch at an MLB All-Star Game (the NL had won each of those previous games up until last night).  Former Cards great Stan Musial – one of the games’ greatest hitters of all-time – was also honored before the game.

The 2010 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Angel Stadium, the home field for the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles.

The 2009 MLB All-Star Game is set for tonight at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.  The National League will try to win its 1st All-Star Game in 13 years – it is the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history.

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants will take on Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Here’s how the lineups look:

AL – Ichiro Suzuki RF (Seattle Mariners); Derek Jeter SS (NY Yankees); Joe Mauer C (Minnesota Twins); Mark Teixeira 1B (NY Yankees); Jason Bay LF (Boston Red Sox); Josh Hamilton CF (Texas Rangers); Michael Young 3B (Texas Rangers); & Aaron Hill 2B (Toronto Blue Jays).

NL – Hanley Ramirez SS (Florida Marlins); Chase Utley 2B (Philadelphia Phillies); Albert Pujols 1B (St. Louis Cardinals); Ryan Braun RF (Milwaukee Brewers); Raul Ibanez LF (Philadelphia Phillies); David Wright 3B (NY Mets); Shane Victorino CF (Philadelphia Phillies); & Yadier Molina C (St. Louis Cardinals).

On a side not, President Barack Obama will throw out the ceremonial 1st pitch to St. Louis’ own Albert Pujols.

Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers defeated Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers int he Home Run Hitting Contest on Monday night.

The 2009 MLB All-Star Game is set to start at 8:05PM and will be televised on FOX.